1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image capturing apparatus and a booting method thereof, in particular, to an image capturing apparatus and a booting method thereof capable of shortening boot time.
2. Related Art
With development of digital technology, a conventional camera using a negative film to record an image has gradually been replaced by a digital camera using a digital media, such as a memory card, to record the image. Nowadays, the digital camera is made into an increasingly smaller size, so as to be conveniently carried on by a user. In another aspect, the memory card of the digital camera has an increasingly larger capacity, so as to record more images and enable the user to completely record larger capacity, so as to record more images and enable the user to completely record events happening at any moment in any shooting circumstances.
However, the real situation is that many events happen quite suddenly, so that an opportunity for the user to take a photo with the camera is fleeting. In order to capture a wonderful moment, boot speed of the digital camera is relatively important.
Generally, after the boot-up of the digital camera, it is necessary to obtain two pieces of information as follows: free exposures after entering a photographic mode, and a file name and a path of the last photo. In order to obtain the two pieces of information, each time when being booted, the digital camera has to calculate a free space of a storage card and execute a file sorting procedure, so as to accordingly establish a file index table. After obtaining the two pieces of information, the digital camera can enter the photographic mode and be used by the user for taking a photo.
In calculating the free space of the storage card, the larger the capacity of the memory card is, the more time is taken; in another aspect, in executing the file sorting procedure, the more the number of files stored in the memory card is, the more time is taken. The time required by the two procedures influences the time from pressing of the power key by the user to the actual photographing, and is also the key deciding whether the camera can capture a real-time picture. Thus, how to shorten the boot time has become a major issue in the field of digital camera technology.